The August Visitor 3

Chapter 3

Revenge of the Abandoned Billionaire

The August Visitor 3

CALEB'S POV

The atmospheric air was stale.

The man in the brown suit cleared his throat. "You mean he doesn't know?" he asked, glaring at Leah.

"Know what?" Caleb queried looking over his shoulder. The trepidation in his tone pierced through the late afternoon air.

Leah lowered her face to the ground, her greyish-blue eyes covered in a plumage of dark eyelids. Her dainty hands which have seen years of hard work and menial labour began shaking from nerve ends as Caleb's puzzled look searched her face for an answer.

Before she could speak, the landlord who was skulking behind them interrupted, "Who are you Mister, and what do you want with my tenants?"

"Your tenants?" Caleb and Leah both snapped angrily at the elderly man, turning to face him.

"My name is Ricardo," the visitor responded, "I am here on instruction to bring the young master to meet with his family."

Caleb bolted towards the exit in a flight of fright.

"Don't run away," Leah called after him but he wouldn't stop.

As he pushed open the gate, he crashed into another body; a huge, heavily built, muscular giant of a man. The weight of the man knocked the air out of his lungs.

"Caleb! Caleb stop!" his mother called, running after him.

Ricardo followed after them leaving the grumpy old landlord staring after the running figures in amazement.

"You all should leave me alone. My mother is the only family I know," Caleb gasped.

He was still panting but the heavily-built man wearing a pair of dark hand gloves, sunshade, and a two-piece black suit said nothing.

His ironclad leather shoes shone in the scorching sunlight, reflecting against the silver-coated face of his wristwatch.

"What do they want from me and my mother?" Caleb wondered as he heard running footsteps behind him.

As if in response to his thought, the man shifted his big body to one side just as he heard the sounds of car doors opening and closing.

Caleb glanced sideways for the first time and to his amazement, there were six cars parked across the other side of the road overlooking their apartment. Six men in black suits and dark goggles lined up beside each car, almost in a showy display of uniformed men on parade

He shielded his throbbing eyes from the effect of the sun using his right palm.

Then he heard another car door opening; a black Bugatti, and a gangly tall man who couldn't be less than 75 years of age, although he came across as someone in his late fifties, dressed in a cream-coloured double blazer suit worn beneath a frock coat, a bow hat and a pure leather black shoes, slowly stepped out of the backseat. He was immediately flanked by two men wearing black.

From his expensive outfit, he was inarguably a well-to-do man.

Caleb noticed how his nostrils flared the moment his feet touched the ground like he was trying to decongest the harsh afternoon air before letting it into his lungs.

The old man looked around, then marched elegantly across the road and paused in front of him.

"I'm pleased to finally meet you, my boy," an expression of pure joy spread all over his face.

Caleb stood there speechless. His mother arrived just then gasping.

"Sorry, boss," Ricardo apologised as he too surfaced, "I tried to explain to him but he became scared and ran off."

"That's alright, Ricardo," the old man smiled. "Anyone in his position would be frightened."

"I will not allow anyone to take my son away from me." Leah clutched Caleb by the elbow, sniffing.

"But mother," Caleb whispered, "we have nowhere else to go. We've been kicked out of our home and..." he trailed off. His mind flashed back to the humiliating incident earlier at his boss' office with his girlfriend.

"I also lost my job today," he swallowed hard and gritted his teeth.

The last revelation brought exchanging stares between Ricardo and the giant of a man who had remained silent since his body collided with Caleb's.

"Oh, my boy." Leah hugged her son and sobbed. The gesture made Caleb's heart to sink.

"But that's not all, Mama."

Leah huffed.

"My boss after sacking me also called the police to come and arrest me. I was bullied and taken to the police station."

"What?"

It was the old man who exclaimed this time.

"My own blood mistreated like a common criminal?"

Caleb could only shake his head. Fresh tears began to form in his eyes.

"Thankfully," he continued, "I was allowed to call a good friend and colleague, Abhi. He came to the station and loaned me some money which I used to bail myself out."

"We have to go with him," Caleb persuaded his mother.

"That's enough trouble for one day." The old man empathised and took a step forward to place his right palm on Caleb's left shoulder. "But all of that is behind you now as you're going to be taking your rightful place as heir to the Dezani empire."

"Dezani?" Leah and Caleb both gasped.

The name has been a household name on the lips of every South American. It was arguably one of the biggest empires dealing with household items and cosmetics.

"Get in there and pack their belongings into the Jeep," the old man instructed the big muscular guy who simply nodded and went inside.

"And Ricardo..."

"Yes, boss."

"Take my grandson and this woman..." he said pouting his lips in Leah's direction, "and lead them into the Bugatti. I need to be closer to my boy."

Ricardo nodded and rushed to get the door but it was already thrown open by one of the waiting men in black.

"Let's go."

The old man started towards the car but Leah hesitated.

"What if they're kidnappers?" his mother whispered.

From the expression on Caleb's face, it was evident he too was thinking along that line.

"But what other choice do we have, Mama? This man is powerful and influential I guess and can order his men to stop us if we refused and tried to run." Caleb reasoned.

Leah saw that her son was right.

"What's the matter, my boy?"

"Nothing sir...."

"Then get into the car and out of the sizzling sun."

Caleb looked behind and saw his landlord peeping from the gate.

"I wish he would say more by way of introduction," he murmured to himself.

"I understand your reservation my boy," the old man prodded as though he could read his mind, "but you will soon learn all you need to know about me and how you came to live with this woman...with your mother I mean."

"Why does he keep referring to my mother as 'this woman'?" Caleb pondered as he climbed into the black Bugatti.

His mother followed suit. "Feeling okay, Mama?"

"Yes," Leah answered in a wearied voice.

"Don't worry, it's going to be alright," he assured her.

The old man settled in and ordered the driver to move.

Caleb wanted to enquire whether all their belongings had been packed but figured he wouldn't be needing any of those scrabs anymore. Oh God, let this not be a dream that I'd need to awaken from, he prayed silently.

"Feeling hungry?" The old man asked interrupting his thoughts.

"Starving."

Lord Diego smiled at his brutal honesty. He put his palm over his. "There's more than a buffet waiting for you to serve yourself once we get home."

"In the meantime, you can have some snacks of pie with chicken cutlets and yoghurt." He fetched a white nylon from the seat behind him and handed it to Caleb.

Caleb hadn't had such a delicious thing in his entire life. He tore into the pie and crunched the chicken. And simultaneously gulped down the yoghurt in one sip.

The old man kept smiling and nodding his head in approval. But his mother refused to taste any of it.

That worried Caleb. "Aren't you hungry, Mama?"

"I will eat once we've settled," she replied.

"Yes. I'm taking you two to a well-furnished mansion where you'd be staying until everything is set for you to resume work at the company," the old man said.

"And pardon my manners for not telling you my name earlier. I am Lord Mateo Gabriel Diego Dezani. And I'm your grandfather."

Caleb digested the information slowly. "But what of my father, Grandpa? My mother refuses to talk about him."

There was a look of mixed feelings on the old man's face. He said, "My heart swells with pride to hear you call me 'grandpa' after waiting for seventeen long years. Seventeen years after your father and..." he hesitated, "and sister were killed during a raid in our former home when you were barely five years old."

Blood rose to Caleb's eyes and his face turned red. "How come my mother never mentioned this?"

Because she's not your real mother."